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DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



CITY AUTHORITIES IN SALEM, 



AT THE CELEBRATIOX OF THE 






FEBRUARY 22. 1862. 



(-GEORGE TT. BRIGGS, 

UIXISTER OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 



PUBLISHED BY BEQUEST OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 



^ s A L E :yi : 

(<^> PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE GAZETTE AXD IIERCURV 

Qy 1862. 



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ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



CITY AUTHOEiTIES IN SALEM, 



AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE 



^xxi)X'§^ 0f llfasilungt0n, 



FEBRUARY 22, 1862. 



BY 

GEORGE W. BRJ.GGS, 

MINISTER OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 



'i O .•?• yy X' 



PUBIilSHEDJBY BEQUEST OF THE CITY COUWCJL. 

i 

SALEM: 

PBINTKU AT THE OFFICE OF THE GAZETTE AND MERCURt. 

1862. 



r 3l^ 



X 



:1DDRESS 



Fellow Citizens : 

I speak to you with the deepest self-distrust to 
day. The comparatively small, though honorable 
audience, on whose indulgence I thought I might 
rely in the Council Chamber of the City, has grown 
into this great assembly. The occasion which 
seemed, at first, only a quiet municipal recognition 
of a Sacred Anniversary, has put on national pro- 
portions, by the Proclamation of the President, re- 
commending its universal celebration. With no 
proper preparation in former studies, with no time to 
make that preparation now, with as little expectation 
three days ago of standing here to lead your thoughts 
to the reflections appropriate to this day, as of being 
called to lead our national, our gallant and victori- 
ous armies, I despair of doing justice either to you 
or to the hour. Pardon the words which must be 
utterly inadequate, but which shall be heartfelt and 
true. * 

Fellow Citizens, — I profoundly sympathize with 
this gathering of the people around the tomb of 
Washington to-day, to listen to his last counsels to 
the country which he served with all a martyr's con- 



stancy, and loved with more than a father's love ; 
to pay new honors to his memory, and to look up 
reverently to his example. I renew my Mth in 
man by such meditations as the hour suggests. 
Amidst the astounding treachery of conspirators who 
sat in the Cabinet, or in Congress, with oaths of al- 
legiance upon their lips, in order to plot, more se- 
curely, for the overthrow of the Government, — con- 
spirators against law and liberty and the most sacred 
rights, in whose defence charity stammers or becomes 
altogether dumb, — amidst the madness of the multi- 
tudes whom these arch-conspirators have made their 
dupes, and whose delusion merits pity far more than 
condemnation ; it is inspiring to look back to those 
noble men whom no selfish ambition could seduce, 
and no danger appal, and who served freedom as 
disinterestedly, as loyally, as the true disciple serves 
his Lord. For Virginia's sake, once so honored, re- 
garded with such lingering affection still, and w^hose 
return from her prodigal wanderings we should wel- 
come with the music and dances of joy, — for Vir- 
ginia's sake we will remember, that although in this 
later day, she has produced an incarnation of treach- 
ery and meanness almost without a parallel, she 
once produced an example of public virtue, literally 
without a peer. It is good in this day of struggle, 
in this second and decisive war for National ex- 
istence and true liberty, to rally in imagination 
around the great leader of the first ; to recall the 
heroism which no evil omens could appal ; which 



bore the discouragements of those long and disas- 
trons Revolutionary winters with unfaltering heart, 
and turned the tide of early defeats into the flood of 
victory. The old heroism of the Revolutionary fath- 
ers flames in the breasts of their s^ns to-day. Though 
with far less trial of its steadfastness, it is gloriously 
proving its parentage. It has already achieved suc- 
cesses that presage its certain triumph. Our winter 
of discouragement is past. We have had our Tren- 
ton and Princeton at Roanoke Island and Port Roy- 
al, at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. There must 
be desperate battles still. There may be defeats to 
check our too exultant hopes. But our Yorktown 
only waits for that wisdom of preparation which or- 
ganizes victory. When the hour which is hastenino- 
on strikes, the man will appear to guide the course 
of battle, and make the victory complete. 

Of the particular events in the career of Wash- 
ington I do not propose to speak Neither time 
nor space could be allowed me to tell the story of 
his life. Its outline is familiar to you all. You 
know how unconsciously he was trained from his 
earliest manhood to physical endurance and strength, 
to familiarity with danger, to military knowledge 
and experience, amidst the perils of Indian w^arflire, 
and the campaigns between the English and the 
French, in which the power of France was exter- 
minated from North America. Even in his youth 
he gained the coolness and skill of a veteran com- 
mander. In critical moments he displayed a higher 



6 

generalship than England's trusted Captains. If 
Braddock had given heed to his counsels he would , 
have been saved from disastrous defeat. You know 
how after the Seven Years War between France and 
England, which trained him to be an accomplished 
soldier, he was for fifteen years a member of the 
House of Burgesses in Virginia ; the companion of 
legislators and orators of enduring fame ; of men 
whose learning and powers of eloquence far exceed- 
ed his own, but who recognized in him an integrity, 
a soundness of judgment, a maturitj^, — let me rather 
say, a majesty of wisdom, — to which they paid a will- 
ing homage. In that school he gained the civil ed- 
ucation which trained him to be an accomplished 
Statesman also. After this two-fold education, both 
for war and for peace, which seems providential at 
every step, you remember that he went forth to 
triumph first upon the field ; to organize the eager 
but undisciplined bands of patriots, who rushed to 
the defence of liberty, into an invincible and victori- 
ous army. You remember, too, that when the Na- 
tional Independence had been achieved, he hastened 
to surrender his triumphant sw^ord into the hands of 
Congress, and thus proved himself even greater 
when he laid it down than when he wnelded it to 
marshal his troops to victory. You remember that 
he went forth to triumph, next, upon the stage of 
civil affairs, and in the Cabinet ; to unite the dis- 
connected States into one compacted government, — 
one stable Union, and to administer its highest ex- 



ecutive trust amidst perils of a different character, 
yet quite as great as those which he had encountered 
upon the field. He was as ready to hazard reputa- 
tion, and the favor of the multitude, by determined 
resistance to populai clamor, as to risk life against 
his country's foes. And when the youthful nation 
had attained a manly strength, and the Republic of 
yesterday began to take an honored place among 
the states that dated back a thousand years, he re- 
tired from the civil sovereignty with the same tran- 
scendent dignity with which he had previously laid 
down the sword. You remember, that, thenceforth, 
he remained at his beloved Mount Vernun, abstain- 
ing from all direct participation in public affairs, 
with the exception of a brief period, in which there 
seemed to be an imminent danger of war with 
France, when he was made Lieutenant General of all 
the armies of the Republic, and began to organize 
the military power of the country, with the possible 
contingency of meeting Napoleon himself upon the 
field. Who can tell how^ greatly the course of his- 
tory might have been changed, — the histoiy both of 
America and of Europe, if Napoleon and Washington, 
"the man of destiny," and " the man of Providence," 
had been actually brought into the strife of arms ? 
That cloud of war was happily dispelled, and Wash- 
ington retired for the last time to Mount Vernon, 
and in the same year closed a noble life by a serene 
and Christian death. 

The mere outward life is a story of stiiring scenes. 



8 

and of great events, amid the tumults of revolution, 
and the birth of an empire. It is the story of a 
long continued and unbroken triumph. God trained 
the man for his providential work, and nobly did he 
execute it by noble deeds. Still the man himself 
was far greater than his works, though they are 
fraught with consequences which no prophecy can 
now foretell. The greatness of the sphere in which 
he acted did not give dignity to him. He made 
every sphere dignified and great. The word "war- 
rior " has a better meaning because Washington has 
lived. He has given it a glory which it never 
gained from Alexander, or Caesar, oi Napoleon. I do 
not know or care to ask, whether in military genius 
he fell below these world-renowned Captains. It is 
enough to say, that he had the peculiar genius, — both 
the energy to strike the boldest blows, and the pru- 
dence and judgment to form and execute movements 
of strategfetical skill, — the peculiar genius, amidst 
great and almost unparalleled difficulties, to win the 
grandest success. Of no military hero can more 
than this be said. But when I remember what he 
was in himself, — the absolute disinterestedness, the 
perfect loyalty to human liberty and human rights 
with which he took up the sword for those weary 
years of war,^the glory of Alexander, or Caesar, or 
Napoleon, becomes dim. War was consecrated jn 
our great leader's person. When I see him on the 
6eld, fighting only in defence of right and liberty, 
in loyalty to man and God, the wild roar of battle is 
changed to music. 



9 

So, loo, statesmanship in his person gains a no- 
bler signification. His statesmanship was not mere- 
ly a skilful adaptation of public measures to the 
circumstances of the moment ; to transient exigen- 
cies, — that lowest form of political wisdom, which, 
too often, is the highest ideal of Cabinets and Kings, — 
but an attempt to lay the fDundations of the State 
upon principles of eternal equity. In the adminis- 
tration of national affairs he had the same immuta- 
ble integrity and single-heartedness as when upon 
the field. He guided the steps of the youthful Na- 
tion, as he guided his own, by the eternal stars. And 
I am sure that private life had a new grandeur when 
the successful warrior, and the successful statesman, 
dignified its daily routine by the display of the same 
high qualities which had ennobled public scenes. 
"Nullum quod tetigit, non ornavit," — he touched noth- 
ing which he did not adorn, — was the splendid trib- 
ute paid to one of England's poets. Nullum quod 
tetigit, non honoravit, — he touched nothing which he 
did not glorify, — is the yet higher tribute which 
justly belongs to Washington. Most imposing in 
person, in physical strength and beauty, he was equal- 
ly remarkable for the strength and beauty of his 
character ; and wherever he stood, there was the 
true majesty which commanded an instinctive rev- 
erence. 

A peculiar difficulty attends every attempt to 
speak of the character of Washington. That difti- 
culty grows out of his very greatness. It is easy 



10 

to draw the picture of a man distinguished for one 
pre-eminent and dazzling quality. The heroes of 
history generally stand as representatives of single 
noble traits. It seems sufficient glory for a man to 
make his name a synonyme for justice, or liberty, — 
for courage, or integrity, or truth, — for any single 
virtue on the glorious catalogue. But Washington 
was not so miich pre-eminent for the display of any 
one, as for the possession of them all. Opposite 
qualities blended in him, — each seeming to find in 
all the rest its proper counterpart and comple- 
ment. Though possessing strong passions, he had 
also the strength to conquer them ; and having thus 
learned to rule his own spirit, he became " greater 
than he that taketh a city," and enthroned himself 
as one of the true monarchs of the race. His was 
a true, though often unrecognized form of genius. 
It was not the genius of the poet, or the orator, or 
the philosopher. He could not chisel the statue, or 
paint the immortal picture upon the canvas. Critics 
may go through the catalogue of the grandest forms 
of intellectual activity and deny his greatness. Per- 
haps, even in his own particular sphere, they may 
call him second. But in the true genius of charac- 
ter, — a form of greatness as distinct, as worthy 
surely of homage as any other, — the genius of in- 
tegrity of purpose, of a masterly ability in public 
alfairs, — of an almost unerring judgment, and an en- 
tirely unerring conscience, — in the genius of pre-emi- 
nent virtue devoted to the grandest aims, and accom- 



11 

plishing the grandest works, he stands first, and we 
may almost venture to say. there is no second, no sec- 
ond yd, on the annals of recorded time. 

He has borne the severest test of greatness. The 
criticisms of generations have not diminished, but 
enhanced his fame. I study the eulogies poured out 
from reverential and loving hearts over his new-made 
grave, and I find not one claim made for him then 
which has not been allowed by the sober judgment 
of history. Posterity has made up its verdict with 
judicial calmness : and. if we may predict the future 
from the past, that verdict will be echoed with in- 
creasing fervor down through the ages. His claim 
to greatness is not only fully conceded, but he has 
become a standard by which the greatness of other 
men is to be tried. It is only the noblest men whose 
character and fame ascend higher in the firmament 
as time rolls on. and who take their place among the 
eternal stars. It is only the very noblest who are 
made at last by the world's growing reverence, mor- 
al judges of the race, and who silently sentence, or 
enthrone men. according to the degree of resem- 
blance to themselves. The character of Washington 
has borne the test of history. Some of the greatest 
minds of Europe have paid their tribute to his name. 
It was a truly symbolic scene, when only sixteen 
months ago. the heir of England, with his retinue of 
nobles, stood with uncovered heads at the tomb of 
the patriot who deprived England of an Empire. 
Who was honored, indeed, bv that pilgrimage of 



12 

prince and nobles to a patriot's sepulchre ? Not - 
Washington alone. They could not honor him. They 
ennobled themselves by that tribute to his greatness. 
Who wore the ro3^al dignity at the grave of the War- 
rior and the Sage ? The living Prince or the buried 
Hero ? Who was monarch there ? That was a pic- 
ture of the world's reverence for moral majesty. 
True men cannot lose their power. Monarchs in 
name alone become dishonored clay when the fleet- 
ing breath has ceased. Monarchs in fact, who bear 
God's signet upon their brow, are crowned anew 
when shrouded in the sepulchre. Their hands change 
to ashes ; but their sceptres are eternal. 

Pardon me for dwelling so long upon thoughts 
like these. The theme expands as I vainly attempt 
to unfold it. It is often arrogantly asked, — what 
great contributions has America given to the world ? 
Where are the men of genius who will be the lights 
of coming centuries ? Sometimes we recount the 
names of those who have already honored themselves 
and their country by intellectual achievements ; the 
names of historians, poets, philosophers, orators, ju- 
rists, — as our answer. The buds of our genius are 
fast bursting into bloom But one life has already 
been given to the world which is mightier than prin- 
ces and thrones. Who has inspired the patriots -of 
these later years ? Whence came their sacred fire ? 
Our own Washington wakened their love of liberty, 
and presided over the gathering hosts of Kossuth, 
in his unsuccessful struggle, and of Gariibaldi, scat- 



13 

tering the foes of libert}^ in Italy. Whose influence 
restrains despotism itself from trampling upon man's 
holiest rights ? This same great name wields an in- 
visible, but woild-wide influence among civilized 
men, which imperial power must recognize and re- 
spect. If it is not ours to give the world its princes, 
it is ours to produce men whom princes are com- 
pelled to honor. If America has given nothing else 
to the world, she has given to it a model man. The 
Overruling Providence reserved this continent as a 
sphere in which humanity should find the free exer- 
cise of its noblest powers, and the word man receive 
a grander signification. Washington is a revelation, 
an example of that higher type of manhood. It is 
fit that we should honor his memory on the Anniver- 
sary of his birth. We will bear his virtue in per- 
petual remembrance. We will redeem his sepul- 
chre, — our holy sepulchre. — from possible profana- 
tion. The women of the land brought their contri- 
butions to rescue it from the hands of a degenerate 
descendant. The men of the land shall defend it 
from the traitor's foot. Yes, soon the princes of 
England and princes of other lands, awakened by 
the courage of our armies to a new appreciation of 
American institutions and American rights, shall 
come to his tomb in reverence, till the pilgrims from 
many climes shall direct thither their eager feet, or 
their wistful eyes. 

But, fellow citizens, while a character like that of 
Washington deserves commemoration at all times, it 



14 

is peculiarly appropriate that we should remember 
his life to-day, when the national existence which he 
helped us to achieve is in peril. I am indebted to a 
friend for the suggestion that this Union, in whose 
defence the sons of these loyal States are bravely 
rushing to the field, found its first embodiment in 
Washington himself He not only acted a command- 
ing part in the formation and establishment of the 
government, but the Union was incarnated in his 
very person. During the Revolutionary w^ar, the 
separate States were simply Confederate Stales, and 
not one Constitutional, national government. What- 
ever the unity of feeling and of purpose among the 
citizens, there was no governmental unity. The 
Commander-in-chief of all the Revolutionary armies 
was the truest impersonation of our Union then. 
He was the centre of national power and hope. It 
is safe to say, that no other man than Washington 
could have held the sometimes factious and jarring- 
elements in check ; kept men of selfish ambition at 
bay ; inspired the confidence and enthusiasm to bear 
the people on, against the appalling difficulties in 
the way to Independence ; and made, and kept them 
one, in discouragement and defeat, and in their final 
victory. When that struggle was over, and the 
weakness of the national organization became clear, 
because there was no longer a common danger, to 
weld the separate States together, it was Washington, 
— by his constant and tireless correspondence, by the 
transcendent influence of his services and his char- 



lo 

u,cter, — who led the way to the election of a conven- 
tion for the formation of a National Constitution. Of 
that convention he was the President. He seldom 
mingled in the debates, but he had prepared himself 
by the careful study of Ancient and Modern Con- 
federacies to judge of its deliberations, and he di- 
rected all his intluence towards the establishment of 
an efficient government. He did not desire a Con- 
federacy, held together by a rope of sand, from 
which any one of its members might secede at will, 
and thus bring back the chaos which he aimed to es- 
cape, but a government, whose sovereignty should 
be supreme within its own sphere of action ; a gov- 
erriment, whose unquestionable right and solemn 
duty it would be to defend its own sovereignty, and 
perpetuate its existence, at whatever cost of traitors* 
lives. When that Constitution was solemnl}^ adopted, 
and the government established, Washington was 
placed in the Executive chair as the Chief Magis- 
trate ; and not even in the darkest days of the Rev- 
olution, when ambitious generals, b}^ mean cabals, 
attempted to drive him Irom the leadership of the 
armies, was his own commanding influence, the mag- 
ic of his character and name, more essential to the 
Union, the continued existence of the Republic, than 
during the perils and excitements of those first Pres- 
idential terms. Washington was the first imperson- 
ation of the Union both in war and peace. Ma}^ we 
not take his character, indeed, as a fitting symbol of 
the grand principles of public right and public jus- 



16 

tice, by which he designed to unite this family of 
States ? Is not a Union having such a parentage, 
first represented by such pre-eminent integrity, 
formed tv secure such great ends of justice and lib- 
erty, worthy of defence ? Is not a government 
based on the inalienable rights of man worthy of the 
sternest self-devotion, of the brave arms, of all who 
are not traitors to the sacred claims of humanity it- 
self; traitors to Pilgrim memories; to Revolutiona- 
ry fathers ; to the grand revelations of man's equal- 
ity in the Gospel of Christ ? I need not ask these 
questions. They have been already gloriously an- 
swered. Our loyal men did not answer in words 
when the day of peril came. They answered upon 
the battle field. They have answered in many a 
brave and bloody strife Massachusetts, true to her 
early fame, gave the first answer in the streets of 
Baltimore. And now,, out of the heart of the impe- 
rial West, — true child of this Puritan East, — the an- 
swer has come again in a battle-cry that will ring 
from the Ohio to the Gulf, — " Suffer death, but dis- 
grace never." Thank God, heroism is not dead, 
The martyrs for liberty live not alone in the legends 
and annals of the past. They are here, the grand 
realities of the present. We have gazed into their 
faces, and the light of their heroic eyes has flasbed 
into ours. Thanks for them all, of whatever lineage 
and lace, who join with us in speaking, and defend- 
ing the great truths of liberty. German, Irish, Hun- 
garian, Puritan, African, — all alike shall then be re- 



17 

garded as tVeedum's sons. We lament, with gushing 
tears, the too early death of those who have fallen. 
Yet we will strew palms and sing anthems, over the 
graves of heroes We have answered whether w-e 
deem our national existence, law and liberty, worthy 
of defence. And I could ask nothing better for uur 
national armies now, when the ancestral love of 
freedom re-inspires the hearts of the sons, than that 
they should go back to the heroism and devotion of 
their fathers, — of Washington and his brave com- 
peers. History records no purer patriotism than 
theirs. Those who go to the field in true devotion 
to freedom to-day, can make their loyalty still more 
pure by looking to these great examples. I could 
ask nothing better, than that this second struggle for 
hiw and liberty, should be carried on with the heroic 
and single hearted devotion of the first. Our fath- 
ers thought not oidy their own freedom, but that of 
a subject race secure, when the Revolution was ac- 
complished. The love of freedom of that day, like 
a tidal wave, swept slavery away, until it had puri- 
fied the Northern States from every stain of human 
bondage. It baptized the great North- West in the 
name of liberty forever. But the invention of the 
Cotton-Gin, which gave such a new impetus to the 
culture of cotton throughout the South, practically 
checked the progress of emancipation. Slavery 
gained a new vitality till she dared to lift up sacri- 
legious hands against liberty herself In this re-bap- 
tism of the nation, liberty will assert her just su~ 



18 

premacy again, by the sword, and by legislative acts, 
till somehow, though we cannot now see how, that wave 
of emancipation shall be rolled onward again, even 
to our extremest Suuthern coast. The fathers hoped 
and believed freedom already secure. Their sons 
will never rest until that hope and faith shall be per- 
fectly fulfillsd. I cannot see precisely how its down- 
fall will come ; but of one thing I am sure, that, in 
its vaulting ambition, Slavery has overleaped itself 
Instead of building a stable empire upon human 
bondage as a corner-stone, accoiding to the boast of 
Mr. Stephens, — a declaration equally marked by in- 
humanity and blasphemy, — the corner-stone of lib- 
erty which these builders have rejected, shall. fall 
upon them, and grind them into powder. 

And I desire to look back to Revolutionary days, 
to Washingtim himself, not only to make and keep 
our patriotism pure, but to enforce still anothei les- 
son. It is one of the problems of the hour to solve 
the future of this new-made and gigantic military 
power. Shall we not henceforth become a military 
people ? — is the question upon timid lips, — until, 
bye and bye, the heel of the soldier shall tread uut 
the last spark of liberty, and the Republic perish 
under the despotism of the sword. I do not share 
those fears. We are not fighting for conquest, for 
glory, but for national existence, for freedom, for 
law. The hosts that have taken up the sword at the 
command of liberty, at her command will lay it 
down, when their work is done, — as Washington 



19 

himself surrendered it when its victory was com- 
plete. We shall not be false to our great example. 
These new-made soldiers will be changed back into 
citizens, as readily as the citizens were changed into 
soldiers. They are not mercenaries fighting for pay, 
for the love of carnage, — but servants of truth and 
freedom, fighting for the sacredness of law, — fight- 
ing for the security of rights, — fighting for order 
and peace. When the victory is gained, though we 
shall not " beat the sword into the ploughshare," we 
shall hasten to " hang the trumpet in the hall," and 
gladly go back to the pursuits of peace, and study 
war no more. Instead of fearing that we are sow- 
ing: seeds of national decay in this development of 
military power, I believe that we are giving to the 
old world the last, conclusive proof of the strength 
of the Republic. The devotees of despotism have 
never been convinced of its stability by our great- 
ness in the arts of peace. But they will find that a 
government in which every citizen feels that he is 
fighting for his own right to liberty, and political 
sovereignty, is the strongest in the world, — infinite- 
ly stronger than the authority that rests upon hire- 
ling armies. Such a Republic is not " a bubble," to 
burst before all who were alive at its birth have gone 
to the grave. Thrones are the bubbles, which glit- 
ter to-day, to vanish to-morrow. These stirring 
days are to teach many lessons. They will work out 
our true independence in many ways. We shall 
learn to defer less to European opinions. We shall 



20 

be in little danger hereafter of sinning against the 
farewell counsels of Washington, by undue par- 
tiality towards foreign nations. The governments 
which we have loved the most, to whom we fondly 
turned for sympathy, have done what they could to 
sever these bonds of affection. Heaven grant that 
this wounded love may never be changed to hate. 
Europe will learn to respect a nation that can vindi- 
cate its existence against a concerted treason of 
such gigantic proportions. Even civilized England, 
the birth place of so many champions of liberty, 
so many of whose people are true to freedom, but 
Avhose o'overnment has so often taken the side of 
despotism, and seemed to recognize power alone as 
deserving of respect, even civilized England will soon 
discover new worth in her noblest child. The sen- 
timent that " America's weakness is England's op- 
portunity," will be no longer seen in the columns of 
leading prints, or be taken as the exposition of min- 
isterial policy, but be branded as essentially piratical 
in principle, worthy only of the robbers of nations, 
and a disgrace to Christian Stiites. We are vindica- 
ting our strength, not showing our weakness, — secur- 
ing, not undermining our freedom now ; and when 
these hundreds of thousands of swords are returned 
to their sheaths, the fact that they are there, ready to 
leap out again at the first assault upon our liberties, 
will constrain the world to leave us to pursue our 
heaven-ordained and peaceful path to true prosperity 
and glory. 



21 

Fellow Citizens, our national territory witnesses 
singular contrasts to-day. In this loyal North, glo- 
rious in its birth, glorious in its history, to be made 
still more glorious as the grand conservator, the 
Providential vindicator of Republican freedom and 
human liberty, — the people are assembling to listen 
to Washington himself, speaking in his immortal 
words of wisdom, —to renew their vows of allegiance 
to the government which he established, and their 
vows to defend it, even unto death. In the capital 
of Virginia, beneath the statue which has been 
termed the best embodiment of his countenance and 
form, a band of traitors meet to organize a so-called 
government, false to the Union which he loved, and 
which is hallowed by his memory, false to the prin- 
ciples of his life, to his name and f^ime. Will not 
those marble lips sjieak to rebuke such profanation ? 
Or will they be mute as destiny itself while the 
avenging sw^ord hangs by a single hair over the trai- 
tor's head ? Where is the parallel to that inaugura- 
tion of to-day, amidst these multiplying omens of 
quick defeat ? Perhaps the traitor's tongue may 
nerve itself to the same old words of boastful con- 
fidence. But I can think of no parallel to the scene, 
except in supposing Belshazzar assuming his coro- 
nation robes, at the very moment when the fatal words 
of doom \vere blazing from his palace wall. 

Leave the traitor to his empty pageant, and the 
vengeance of history. Thank God for the daAvn of 
the day of victory. Our military leader will fast 



22 

vindicate his comprehensive plans. Soon, we be- 
lieve, every hasty crilicisin will give place to enthusi- 
astic admiration. The tidings of victory in these 
later days come on every breeze. It has begun "to 
thunder around the whole horizon." From either 
side of the rebel Confederacy, — Fort Donelson re- 
sponding to Roanoke, — comes the shout of triumph. 
These triumphs shall still go on. Notwithstanding 
these " late successes of the Confederate arms," "•^• 
we must still propose " the ungenerous and unchiv- 
alric terms" of unconditional surrender all the way 
to the Gulf As our Ulysses has captured this new 
Simon Bolivar, so must our commanders capture all 
the leaders who disgrace the name of patriots, or 
who profane the word liberty to execute the plans 
of treason. The children shall vindicate the sov- 
ereignty which their fathers established. The old 
men whom we delight to honor, whose lives date 
back to the birth-day of the Republic, who were 
born amid revolutionary times, and drew in the love 
of libert}^ at the mother's breast, like him f whose 
presence graces our assembly now, and whose voice 
we had expected to hear to sanction the services of 
the hour, shall not outlive their country. Wait, wait, 
wdth all your compeers in years, wait a little longer, 
to rejoice with us in freedom's perfect triumph. And 
then wait, — long may it cheer your sight, — wait to 

* See the letter of Gen. Simon Bolivar Duckner, in reply to Gen Ulysses 
S. Grant, at the surrender of Fort Doaelsoa. 
t Rev. Dr. Emerson, now in his 85th year. 



23 

see 3''our beloved country spring forward anew in 
the career of greatness, re-consecrated to a truer, a 
universal liberty, re-baptized by the sacrifice of price- 
less lives, till in the splendid vision of its true pros- 
perity and glory, you may say, •' Lord, now lettest 
thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have 
seen thy salvation. 

Yes, we are exultant with the hope of victory to- 
day. And yet, fellow citizens, I should be false to 
myself, false to my highest allegiance, if I did not 
present one additional thought. J can scarcely say 
that I am really more confident and hopeful now, 
when the winter of our impatience and discontent 
has suddenl}'- burst into spring, than I have been dur- 
ing all those dreary, wintry hours. It has seemed 
to me all the while, that our cause was in the Omni- 
potent hand. This Continent was not reserved till 
later centui'ies to repeat the poor civilizations of the 
past. The Puritan was not guided across the sea to 
plant here his grand seed-grains of truth and liberty 
in vain The sacrifices of blood in Revolutionary 
days were not in vain. Our whole histor}^ is a 
Providential history ; and Washington, in giving a 
more perfect shape to our inborn ideas of popu- 
lar freedom in our national institutions, — Washing- 
ton, in his marvellous fitness for his destined work in 
the Camp and in the Cabinet, — was almost more than 
any other, '• the man of Providence " in human his- 
tory. When Poetry exclaimed, " Columbia, child of 
heaven," she was simply hymning the intuitions of 



24 

faith. This government of ours has not yet accom- 
plished its Providential destiny. Traitorous hands 
shall be as vainly raised against it, as of old they 
were raised against the Lord. The envy- of despots 
shall yet be shamed into reverence. In every day of 
peril the inspiration of patriotism will fire millions 
of hearts as now, to make them invincible in arms, — 
and the heroic leader will appear then as now, the 
leader who first bends his knee in prayer before he 
takes up his mighty work, who is great enough 
calmly to wait till his pieparation is complete, and 
then bold to strike as with the svvift bolts of judg- 
ment, till we can scarcely keep pace with the quick 
march of victoiy. Give honor to our heroic soldiers, 
for their holy fealty to right and law. Twine wreaths 
of unfading laurel for those who fall, and who pay 
the price of liberty with their priceless lives. King 
out the peals of joy at every new tale of triumph. 
Cheer those who contend so bravely, till your voices 
echo down to the must distant battle field. But 
amidst your exultation and your praise when you 
look at these human agencies, as becomes a people 
of holy parentage, look up with perpetual thanks- 
mvinti: and adoration to your Fathers' God. 






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